Grain feeder



' 35 the bottom of the hopper.

Patented June 16, 1931 RALPH r. Limjnns, or BALDWIN, rumor s I GRAINFEEDER Application filed February 7, 1929. SeriaI'No. 838,250.

This invention relates to grain feeders for mills and, among otherobjects, aims to provide improved feeding mechanism for automaticallydistributing and controlling the feed to grinding or crushing rolls toproduceia moreuniform product.

Other objects and. advantages .of the invention will appear in thespecification considered in connection with the accompany.-

)9 ing drawingsshowing the preferredform.

of apparatus and. in which, 7

Fig. '1 is a sectional view of a'feed hopper,-

showing the front of the feed controlling,

mechanism in elevation; and V Y Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken ontheline the improved mechanism is mounted in the usual feed housing orcasing 11 which has a feed chute 12 through the top wall (Fig. 2).Within the housing is a grain receiving hop per formed by a downwardlyand forwardly o inclined wall 13 secured tothe rear wall of the housingand having a substantially vertical screen 14 forming the front wall,the

' upper end of the screen being supported by a rigid plate or Wallsection 15 well above In the bottom of the hopper is a feed roll 16having slightly helical or s iral beaters 17 arranged to force the graint rough the meshes of the screen. Four such beaters are shown andadjacent "4o ones have opposite pitches or wind in opposite directionson the periphery of the feed roller to effect even distribution of thefeed. The width of the beaters is sufiicient to permit the feed to bedeposited more or less evenly or equalized throughout the length of theroll and the wire mesh serves to spread out the feed or prevent anylarge bulk from passing through the rolls 1() at any one point.

.5 As will be seen from the above descrip= proper balanceifor anyconstant. rate of feed 1 tion, cthe 'idea'is to feed the grain continuously to therolls from the bottom of the. hopper- The discharged grainis guided to fall between the rolls bymeans of a drop pan 18 and. a tray19 arranged in front of the screens Thelatteris shown as being somounted that it. is 'capablef ofangular ade justment to guide the grainproperly.

To regulate the-discharge of the grain from the hopperfaccording to the,rate of supply of the incoming feed, there is shown ajsliding. gate 20in front of the screen ,14 adapted to be raised andlowerediautomatically bythe weight of the grain falling in the hopper.Herein, the gate is loosely sus pended, as by rings 21', from'the upperends of a pair of arms 22 which are secured to a balance rod or shaft23. On.the lower ends of the arms a feed pan 24:is.=rigidly secured andextends downwardly into the hopper 7 near the beater orlfeed roll.* Thelower 'end- 5 of the panis shown as being curved or bent at the lowerend to provide av bottom wall against which the incominggrain :falls androlls forwardly onto the beater roll. Thus,- the weight of the pan andthe falling grain counteract the weight of the sliding or regu latinggate 20. The gate 20 is herein shown as being guidedby thumb screws 25in angle brackets 26 at the opposite ends of the cas- .8 ing. Thescrewsmay be adjusted so as to 1 keep the end of the gate againstthescreenWithout any. binding action thus permitting freedom of movementand-preventing the grain-from crowding or'pushing the gate away from thescreen.

Now it is very.desirableto'counterbalance the feed pan and sliding orregulating gate so that the gate' 'will beoperated automaticallyaccording to changesin the rate of the 9 incoming feed and thereby.prevent grain from backing up or. partially filling the hopper. Herein,the shaft23 extends through oneend-of the housing and has a perforatedmember27 inthe form of a ball or knob through which a counterweightedrod 28 is inserted. ,This'rod has weights 29 slidably and adjustablymounted on theends. The rod mayalsobe adjusted so as toefi'ect the andmay be held in position by a thumb I screw 30. The Whole mechanism isprop- 7 cause the-gate to, move or respond'yalmost;

instantly. Y 1 a 1 It will now be clear that my improved feeder isadapted to regulate and distribute the feed to milling rollswithout'depending upon any shaker action or upon the weight of thematerial in the hopper above thefeed' gate 'as'is the common; flour millpractices. Further, it will distribute conditioned grain, treated withmoisture and heat without per-v mitting it todischarge in a bulky streamover a part of the rolls. Tl1us, the .rolls'grind uniformly throughouttheir. rinding surfaces and produce a fmore uniform product. Also, lesspower :is required'to drivethe rolls. The feed controlling mechanism isentirely automatic in its action. and is eflective to. prevent cloggingupfthe hopper with grain. The thin uniform; stream insures that stockwill not beicaught and ground between stock.

Obv-iousl'y, thepresenti invention is not restricted to theparticular-embodiment there-1 of. herein shown and described. .Moreover,it is not indispensable thatall the features of the invention heused'conjointly, since they may be employed advantageously invariouscombinations and sub-combinations. What I claiimcisz Y j l. -A grainfeeder of the character de-.

scribed comprising, incombination, a hopper having an inlet opening atthe top a sheet metal bottom wall in the hopper; a

beater within the hopper; Ia fixed screen constituting a viront hopperwall adjacent to the beater "and extending from the front edge of thebottom wall to permit grain to be discharged therethrough; a slidablymounted sheet metal control gate having a rearwardly bent lower edgecontactingv with the'screen to control the discharge opening;

a counterbalanceing feed pan connected to the control gate and suspendedwithin the hopper; and a curved portion onlthe bottom of thecounterbalancing pan so arranged that incoming grain tallsfthereonwhereby the rate of flow ofthe incoming graincontrols said gate.

2. A grain having a discharge opening: in its front wall; a beaterwithin the hopper to disadjustable counterbalancing weights operativelyconnected to said shaft whereby the discharge opening for the grain maybe regulated in accordance with the rate of fiow of the incoming grain.

3. A grain feeder of the character described comprising, in combination,a: pair of rolls a feeder =-casing above the rolls; a feed. hopperwithin the casing and having a dischargeo ,ening on the side adjacenttothe rolls; a

coder rdll Within the hopper having means to discharge the grain throughthe opening; aslidablecontrol gate for said discharge openingashaftextending across the hopper having a pair of arms from which: saidcontrol-gate is 'fiexiblyYsu'spended; means .to guide the; gate to.prevent: it from beingpushed away from saidi discharge :opening; acounteribailancing. diced. pan-arranged withinthe hopper and rigidlyconnected to the opposite endsof said arms; saidieed 'panl having acurvedilower. .end against 'Whichithe incoming grain 1is;adapted tofall; and a counterweighted rod, adjustablyconnectedz to said shaftwhereby the discharge opening of. the :hopper may be rogue 'lated :for agiven rate. otflow ot'uthe. incoming grain.

In testimony that Iclaimithe foregoing as: my "own, I l'lZLYBrhQIBtO.afiixedmy signature. RALPH F. LINZIDE'RS.

V feederof' the character de scribed'comprising, in combination,a'hopper charge grain through said opening; a shaft extending across thehopper and having a pair of armsg a control '-gate freely suspended fromthe front ends of said arms and co-o'perating with said opening; afeedpan rigidly connected to the other end of said arms': and arranged'within the hopper so that" incoming grain falls thereon; and

